Prestigious Appointment at Brandon University for Comp Lit Grad

BRANDON, MB – Boys will be boys? Man-up? Real men don’t cry? Dr. Jonathan A. Allan says the contemporary definition of masculinity is unattainable, creating ‘angry white males’ and triggering men’s rights groups across North America. Today, the Brandon University (BU) professor was given a prestigious national appointment and $500,000 to continue his ground-breaking research into masculinity.

Dr. Allan has been named Tier II Canada Research Chair in Queer Theory by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Over the next five years he will research the troubling ways in which bullying, phobias, and social anxieties impact and affect individuals and society.

“I am interested in the ways in which masculinity is set up to fail,“ says Dr. Allan, in BU’s Gender and Women’s Studies Program. “Our genders and sexualities affect and influence our daily lives, from the colour of shirt we might wear, to which bathroom we feel most comfortable using, to talking about bullying on the playground or in the boardroom. We live in a society that is openly questioning and exploring gender and sexuality, and it’s important that we all think about what this means.”

The Canada Research Chairs program is a national strategy for research and development, investing approximately $265 million per year with some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.

“In his role as Canada Research Chair in Queer Theory, Dr. Jonathan A. Allan will ask timely questions about the ways in which masculinity informs homophobia, and how homophobia negotiates misogyny and masculinity,” says BU’s Vice-President (Academic and Provost), Dr. Heather Duncan. “His research contributes to ways in which the University, the local community and beyond can celebrate gender diversity”

Dr. Gervan Fearon, BU President and Vice-Chancellor, says, “I am proud that Brandon University, through the work of Dr. Jonathon A. Allan, will be conducting leading edge research that contributes to greater knowledge and understanding towards fostering a more inclusive and equitable society.”